Not to be confused with Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days, another zombie survival game that was released in April 2025, Darkest Days is a new game by developer and publisher NHN Corp. Darkest Days just launched a free-to-play open beta on PC and mobile platforms, and in the short time since then, the game has already stirred quite a controversy, leading to overall negative reviews on most platforms.
As a new zombie survival game, Darkest Days naturally has a lot of competition on both PC and mobile platforms. Ultimately, this game seems to have a promising foundation to be able to compete with some of the most popular zombie games that came before it as it grows and improves in future updates. However, in its current state, the game’s microtransactions and technical issues are leading to the game getting poor reviews.
The Zombie Game Dam Feels Ready to Burst in 2025
2025 is filled with a great roster of releases, and a healthy offering of zombie games could add even more to an already packed year.
Why Players Are Review-Bombing Darkest Days' Open Beta
As of early 2025, there is a lot of hype and anticipation among gamers for some of the upcoming zombie games releasing this year. Not only are some of the most popular games under this generalized umbrella starting to age by now, but there are currently a few high-profile games that are confirmed to release in 2025, with a couple of other zombie games rumored to come this year as well.
New Zombie Games Coming in 2025:
- State of Decay 3
- Dying Light: The Beast
- No More Room In Hell 2’s full release
- The House of the Dead 2: Remake
- The Midnight Walkers
- Killing Floor 3
- Projekt Z: Beyond Order
- Showa American Story
Darkest Days’ Open Beta Release Suffers from Performance Issues on Mobile Platforms
With Darkest Days releasing ahead of the curve, this game is in a position to strike while the iron is hot. However, while Darkest Days’ release has the benefit of a head start on its competition, many players feel that the game was rushed to release, specifically due to the frequency of performance issues the game faces on both PC and mobile platforms.
On the Google Play Store, user reviews for Darkest Days currently have the game at mixed reviews, with most reviews so far being one or five stars. Several of the one-star reviews for the game cite connection issues with the game’s servers that kick players out of their play session. One-star reviews also frequently report hardware concerns about their phone reaching high temperatures while running the game. Beyond this, the high reviews for the game praise its accessibility among open-world zombie survival games and its simplistic yet addictive gameplay loop.
Darkest Days’ Gameplay Loop is Both a Strength and a Weakness
On PC, many players are comparing Darkest Days to games like State of Decay 2, H1Z1, and DayZ, except with a few particular distinctions. According to reviews for Darkest Days on Steam, specifically the negative reviews, some of the main differences between Darkest Days and other zombie survival games are its microtransactions, performance issues, and simplified survival gameplay loop.
While microtransactions in free-to-play mobile games are to be expected, Darkest Days’ microtransactions stand out for being excessive and pay-to-win. Despite the game only being in open beta, there is already over $650 worth of microtransactions and a premium monthly subscription that gives players many in-game progression shortcuts.
Ultimately, the relatively simplified survival gameplay of Darkest Days is both its biggest strength and weakness. In other words, for players who are looking for a free-to-play, mobile, and much more accessible experience of an open-world zombie survival game, Darkest Days has a solid foundation that will presumably continue to evolve and grow throughout its open beta, presumably resolving the game’s technical issues by the time of full release. Otherwise, PC players who are looking for a more in-depth and polished experience should consider one of the many paid zombie survival games available or those coming soon.
Darkest Days is available now in open beta for PC, Android, and IOS mobile platforms.